According to "Plants for a Future", ssp. Cistus Incanus Creticus and, I suspect, all Rock Roses, have several uses. In particular, leaves can be used as a tea substitute, whilst the oleo-resin obtained from the leaves and stems is used as a commercial food flavoring in baked goods, ice cream, chewing gum etc.

In addition, the plant is an aromatic, expectorant, stimulant herb that controls bleeding and has antibiotic effects. It is used internally in the treatment of catarrh and diarrhoea and as an emmenagogue. The leaves are harvested in late spring and early summer and can be dried for later use, or the resin extracted from them.

Finally, the glandular hairs on the leaves yield the oleo-resin "ladanum", which, some sources, associate with the "myrrh" of biblical references, It is used medicinally and in soaps, perfumery, fumigation etc. This resin is an acceptable substitute for ambergris (which is obtained from the sperm whale) and so is important in perfume manufacture. The resin is collected by dragging a type of rake through the plant, the resin adhering to the teeth of the rake, or by boiling the twigs and skimming off the resin. Most resin is produced at the hottest time of the year.

The use of the Cistus Incanus has a long history and can be traced back to the 4th century BC. In the Middle East, northern Africa and the European Mediterranean region the Cistus Incanus was enjoyed as a wellness tea for breakfast and indeed right throughout the day as a drink for relaxing after a strenuous day. When guests arrived, it was common to offer a freshly boiled pot of the Cistus tea. The knowledge of the benefits of this tea were passed on late into the middle Ages.

Why is it called the Pink Rock Rose?

It is so because it is a small pink rockrose, a small aromatic bush. Their flowers resemble single, old-fashioned roses (although they are unrelated) and because they prefer to grow in rocky, well-drained soil. They are evergreen strongly woody shrubs, varying in height from two to over eight feet and from three to more than six feet across. Some sprawl on the ground, while others are open, erect and rangy. These are not plants for formal, highly structured gardens. Even with moderate pruning, Rock Roses have a wild, undomesticated look in the landscape. They bloom most heavily in the spring, with some species beginning as early as March. Each flower lasts only a few hours but many kinds bloom so profusely that the entire plant is covered with hundreds of new blossoms each day. Colors range from white and many shades of pink and lavender-pink in Cistus to white and yellow in Halimium. Flowers of some rockroses also have a showy red to maroon spot or blotch at the base of each petal, offering stunning contrasts to the numerous bright yellow stamens at the center.

What are Polyphenols?

Certain plant compounds containing groups of ‘phenols’ and which also contain certain antioxidant characteristics. They are very powerful antioxidants, present in several different botanicals. Polyphenols are now known to be the called the ‘Vitamins of the 21st Century’. Some of them are referred to ‘OPC’s’, ‘Proanthenols’, and Proanthocynanidis’. Super-antioxidants, also known as proanthocyanidins, pycnogenols, or OPCs, fit into this category. Research indicates that a class of polyphenols has antioxidant characteristics with potential health benefits. Like vitamins, they play a central part in our health.

Where else do you find Polyphenols?

Polyphenols can be found in fruit, vegetables, red wine, green tea but the highest concentration of Polyphenols is only found in the CISTUS INCANUS.

Antioxidants are thought to be vital for maintaining good health, but why?

Antioxidants deactivate the free radicals in our system by attaching themselves to these cells

before they can do any harm. A diet high in anti-oxidants may reduce the risk of many diseases, including heart disease and certain cancers.

Cistus Inanus- pink flower.

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants is a word frequently used in the media but does anyone really know what it is? Here is a simple, illustrated definition that while based on science is not in the usual scientific terminology that few of us understand. Antioxidants are a classification of several organic substances, period. Antioxidants are substances that protect cells from being damaged by oxidation, which is a chemical reaction.

Antioxidants can help the body protect itself against free radicals. They are found in certain foods. These include Vitamins A, C and E.

When your car's metal oxidizes (or rusts), it's reacting with oxygen in the air. Unfortunately, your body's molecules are vulnerable to oxidation too. This causes you to produce free radicals that contribute to signs of aging and numerous health issues. Well, there's a way to help reduce your "rusting" process.

What are free radicals?

Free radicals are unstable, destructive molecules that lack electrons. They form naturally from normal metabolic processes such as breathing, but their production can rise beyond optimal levels due to:

• Obesity

• Poor diet

• Overly strenuous exercise

• Stress

• Smoking

• And many other factors

What the Immune System Does?

The immune system is the body’s defence against infectious organisms and other invaders. Through a series of steps called the immune response, the immune system attacks organisms and substances that invade our systems and cause disease.

CISTUS INCANUS / POLYPHENOLS

The Cistus Incanus has the age-old reputation for supporting the immune system. Giving our immune system an enormous boost as a food supplement. They support the body-own defense and immune system.

Cistus Incanus Creticus from northern Crete they is unique that produces the laudanum with traditional way and is the most strong.

21.4.10

Labdanum has fascinated people for many centuries. It is said to reach deep into our subconscious and bring back memories, pictures, feelings and moods. Labdanum originates from the rockrose bush, which emits a resinous dark brown mass from its leaves and twigs. To this day it is still gathered by driving goats into the thick forests overgrown with labdanum bushes. The goats eat their fill from the branches and the sticky resin gets stuck on their beards. When they return, their owners carefully comb the resin our of their beards. Also used is a rakelike instrument with long strips of leather attached to it, which they drag across the bushes to collect the resin. Labdanum strengthens the body and provides warmth and sensuality. It is very grounding. The fragrance of Labdanum is very complex. This waxy resin produces a balsamlike, woody, earthy, marshy, smoky, ambergrislike, leathery, flowery, honeylike, mintlike fragrance with hints of plum or oakmoss after a rain. The Japanese use Labdanum in their Neriko mixtures, which are used during tea ceremony. Egyptians used it in their Kyphi mixtures and the Hebrews burned it in their temples. Today the perfume industry uses labdanum to add a note of moss and leather to its products. Labdanum is an excellent medium for making fragrant incense pellets.

Minoan civilization(3000-1450 BC)
Labdanum was acquaintance and it is exported in ancient Egypt.

KNOSSOS - THE BLUE BIRD
The blue bird. Above left it is the flower Cistus Creticus

Two Aromatic Herbs of Ancient Crete P. FaureFrom the Minoan era, in the middle of the second millennium BC. and still today, Crete has been famous for the variety and wealth of its flora and its aromatic herbs, in particular. The most celebrated among them, known especially for their healing properties, are the ladanos, or labdanum, of the Cistus Creticus Incanus genus, called po-ni-ki-jo by the Mycenaens and the dictamos, a marjoram known in Botany as Origanum Dictamnus. This plant, being an attribute of the goddesses Dictyna and Artemis Vritomartys and of god Eros, was also called "theangelis (= gods' messager) after the role Eros usually has played among the other deities.

14.4.10

Essential oils are volatile and liquid aroma compounds from natural sources, usually plants. Essential oils are not oils in a strict sense, but often share with oils a poor solubility in water. Essential oils often have an odor and are therefore used in food flavoring and perfumery. Essential oils are usually prepared by fragrance extraction techniques such as distillation (including steam distillation), cold pressing, or extraction (maceration). Essential oils are distinguished from aroma oils (essential oils and aroma compounds in an oily solvent), infusions in a vegetable oil, absolutes, and concretes. Typically, essential oils are highly complex mixtures of often hundreds of individual aroma compounds.

Steam distillation

Steam distillation is a special type of distillation (a separation process) for temperature sensitive materials like natural aromatic compounds.

Many organic compounds tend to decompose at high sustained temperatures. Separation by normal distillation would then not be an option, so water or steam is introduced into the distillation apparatus. By adding water or steam, the boiling points of the compounds are depressed, allowing them to evaporate at lower temperatures, preferably below the temperatures at which the deterioration of the material becomes appreciable. If the substances to be distilled are very sensitive to heat, steam distillation can also be combined with vacuum distillation. After distillation the vapors are condensed as usual, usually yielding a two-phase system of water and the organic compounds, allowing for simple separation.

Aromatic plant material is normally distilled very soon after harvest to attain the highest yield.Essential oils from the plants are evaporated with the steam that rises through the aromatic plant material.

Steam is then cooled to condense into liquid droplets.

The oil and water naturally separate, yielding essential oil and the water by-product called floral water or hydrolate.

Essential oil of Cistus Incanus Creticus.

Labdanum Oil Enhances Neural Activity

Labdanum is a single of those shrubs that makes ancient history an interesting as well as intriguing tale. Mediterranean sheep and goat herders ended up the first group to figure out what to do together with the sticky resin through the bushes. They collected the resin by combing the thighs and beards of goats that grazed on the cistus shrubs. They developed wooden rakes with a double row of wooden thongs to sweep the shrubs so the resin could be collected and then extracted.

The pharaohs had been the first group to use labdanum around the body. Almost all of them wore goat hair beards, which have been attached for the face with labdanum. The resin was also used to treat rheumatism, colds, and menstrual challenges. Some biblical scholars believe the holy incense mentioned within the bible (Ketoret) was actually labdanum.

The labdanum oil used in aromatherapy is actually an item of steam distilling the leaves and branches with the shrubs. Labdanum’s aroma is described as sweet, woody, and leathery with a dry musk as well as amber scent. The perfume market uses labdanum because it displays a number of scents that can be enhanced inside the perfume making process.

Most essential oils have antiseptic, antimicrobial, astringent, expectorant, balsamic, antitussive, emmenagogue, and tonic properties and labdanum is no various. The oil is used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, skin conditions, tumors, and arthritis because it blends well with clary sage, pine, juniper berry, cyprus, lavender, bergamot, sandalwood, and chamomile oil. The oil can be massaged into the skin or diluted in a bath to relieve coughs, colds, and scrofulous skin issues.

The main use for labdanum is to relax the nerves, ease stress, and promote a calm presence. When the thick labdanum oil is warm it truly is reputed to have the ability to change thoughts, which move emotions back through the brink of negativity, and into the light of connected control.

The oil will loosen tight muscles, and improve circulation; it carries more oxygen to the organs and the brain. When stress stretches the nervous system to the position of depression or when the emotions titter about the brink of a hormonal overload, labdanum will interact with all the adrenal glands and begin to balance hormone secretion.

Loyal labdanum users like to combine meditation with a few drops in the oil in order to reach a state of relaxation, often with other essential oils these kinds of as frankincense to deepen the breath or patchouli for its cherished grounding effects. That process helps neural impulses return to their normal state, and emotions flow in a stream of beneficial thoughts.

Labdane is a natural bicyclic diterpene. It forms the structural core for a wide variety of natural products collectively known as labdanes or labdane diterpenes. The labdanes were so named because the first members of the class were originally obtained from labdanum, a resin derived from rockrose plants.

A variety of biological activities have been determined for labdane diterpenes including antibacterial, antifungal, antiprotozoal, and anti-inflammatory activities.

25.3.10

The bees gather the propolis. In the regions where they exist Cistus Incanus Creticus they gather the laudanum as propolis.

Propolis is a resinous mixture that honey bees collect from tree buds, sap flows, or other botanical sources. It is used as a sealant for unwanted open spaces in the hive. Propolis is used for small gaps (approximately 6 millimeters (0.24 in) or less), while larger spaces are usually filled with beeswax. Its color varies depending on its botanical source, the most common being dark brown. Propolis is sticky at and above room temperature (20 °C). At lower temperatures, it becomes hard and very brittle.
Contents.

For centuries, beekeepers assumed that bees sealed the beehive with propolis to protect the colony from the elements, such as rain and cold winter drafts. However, 20th century research has revealed that bees not only survive, but also thrive, with increased ventilation during the winter months throughout most temperate regions of the world.
Propolis is now believed to:
1.reinforce the structural stability of the hive
2.reduce vibration
3.make the hive more defensible by sealing alternate entrances
4.prevent diseases and parasites from entering the hive, and to inhibit bacterial growth.
5.prevent putrefaction within the hive.

Bees usually carry waste out of and away from the hive. However if a small lizard or mouse, for example, finds its way into the hive and dies there, bees may be unable to carry it out through the hive entrance. In that case, they would attempt instead to seal the carcass in propolis, essentially mummifying it and making it odorless and harmless.

Odysseas Elytis (Greek: Οδυσσέας Ελύτης) (November 2, 1911—March 18, 1996) is a legendary Greek poet,regarded as one of the most important representatives of romantic modernism in Greece and the world. In 1979 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Asterix - The village.

Labdanum is one of the four Roman encampments surrounding the' village.

His two surviving botanical works, Enquiry into Plants and On the Causes of Plants, were an important influence on medieval science.

GAIUS OR CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS, (AD 23 – August 24, AD 79).

Gaius or Caius Plinius Secundus, better known as Pliny the Elder, was an ancient author, naturalist or natural philosopher and naval and military commander of some importance who wrote Naturalis Historia.

PEDANIOS DIOSKURIDES 1 AC .

PEDANIOS DIOSKURIDES 1 AC .

Pedanios Dioskurides sd) from Anazarba in Kilikien (small Asia) (1. Century) was a Greek physician, who as an army surgeon among the emperors Claudius and Nero in the Roman service. Most famous Pharmakologe of the antiquity.

GALEN (AD 129 –ca. 200 or 216).

GALEN (AD 129 –ca. 200 or 216).

Galen was a prominent ancient Greek physician, whose theories dominated Western medical science for well over a millennium.

CELSUS ( 2nd century ).

CELSUS ( 2nd century ).

Celsus Greek philosopher and opponent of Christianity. He is known to us mainly through the reputation of his literary work, The True Word

ORIBASIUS OR OREIBASIUS (c. 320-400).

Oribasius or Oreibasius was a Greek medical writer and the personal physician of the Roman emperor Julian the Apostate.

AËTIUS AMIDENUS OR AËTIUS OF AMIDA (c. 502 - 575).

Aëtius Amidenus or Aëtius of Amida was a Byzantine physician and medical writer, particularly distinguished by the extent of his erudition
.

Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Sīnā ("son of Sina"; c. 980, Afshana near Bukhara– 1037, Hamadan, Iran), commonly known as Ibn Sīnā or by his Latinized name Avicenna, was a Persian polymath, who wrote almost 450 treatises on a wide range of subjects, of which around 240 have survived. In particular, 150 of his surviving treatises concentrate on philosophy and 40 of them concentrate on medicine.
His most famous works are The Book of Healing, a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia, and The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text at many medieval universities. The Canon of Medicine was used as a text-book in the universities of Montpellier and Leuven as late as 1650. Ibn Sīnā's Canon of Medicine provides a complete system of medicine according to the principles of Galen (and Hippocrates).

4.3.10

For immune system. In ancient times it was used for embalming and aphrodisiac purposes.
Most Cistus species have aromatic foliage but some species also exude a highly aromatic gum or resin, called ladanum or labdanum, which has been used in incenses since ancient times and is now a valuable ingredient of perfumes.
Various classical writers mention its use as an emetic, for weak stomachs and livers, disorders of the spleen and diarrhoea. It has also been used for hair loss, scurvy, catarrh, asthma, stomach ulcers and cancer, as a protection against the plague and as a fumigant.

28.1.10

Labdanum is a resinous perfume ingredient derived from Cistus creticus. It does best in amber-type scents, and has a woody or animal-like smell. This material's complex fragrance resembles that of ambergris, and works in many of the same perfume recipes, including scents designed for both sexes. Labdanum was historically collected from the coats of grazing animals that had eaten the rockrose. It has been prized as an incense, perfume, and ingredient in herbal medicine for centuries, and its use is documented in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Israel.

This material plays an important part in perfumes that reproduce the smell of amber oil or artificial musk due to its smoky and earthy notes. Labdanum may be listed as a sweet, woody, or musky ingredient in perfumes and perfume oils. It is often used to replace ambergris in older perfume formulations, since that ingredient is banned in many countries due to its association with whaling. Labdanum appears in men's, women's, and unisex scents since its musky smell is not considered to be particularly masculine or feminine.

People have used this material as a scent and medicinal ingredient since the ancient period. This perfume ingredient was often mixed with natural myrrh in incense preparations mentioned in the Bible, and was also used by Hippocrates and by Roman physicians to treat coughs, colds, and sores. Ancient doctors also used labdanum to treat some kinds of infections. Components of this resin, called labdane diterpenes, have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties in laboratory tests.

ii) Soap

iii) wax with labdanum.

Timothy Han.

A dark and mysterious essence, its distinctly exotic combination conjured up by the woody base of Sandalwood and the musky Labdanum, a resin from the small Rock Rose shrub. The scent is finished with a top note of Black Pepper.

Chypre is the name of a family (or concept) of perfumes that are characterised by an accord composed of citrus top-notes, a floral middle, and a mossy-animalic base-note derived from oak moss and musks. Chypre perfumes may be modified by other notes such as patchouli (most often), vetiver, labdanum, ambergris and sandalwood oil.

History

The term chypre is French for Cyprus, and goes back to François Coty who created in 1917 a perfume of the same name from fragrance materials that came predominantly from Mediterranean countries. Coty's ‘Chypre’ became the most typical representative of a whole family of related fragrances, albeit perfumes of similar style had already been created throughout the 19th century. The chypre concept is characterised by the contrast between the fresh citrus accord and the woody-oakmoss fond; often patchouli is considered an indispensable element as well. Other main fragrance families besides chypres are fougères, orientals, gourmands, and florals. The chypre accord is used in both male and female perfumery. A notable literary reference to chypre is contained in the novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (Knopf, 1929), in which the character Joel Cairo is described as carrying a chypre-scented handkerchief as part of his homosexual persona.

Chypre perfume.

Featured Review: Tom Ford Private Blend Moss Breches.

by Sali Oguri
NY Fragrance Examiner

It's been rumored Tom Ford Private Blend Moss Breches (2007) is being discontinued, a terrible shame if it's true considering Moss Breches, along with Tobacco Vanille, is among my very favorites in the designer's ultraniche line. Among these, Moss Breches is far, far away from the mainstream scents of today. It takes perfuminess to its highest level, played up by both Chypre and Oriental notes in a single composition, decadently retro in richly subdued earth tones. It's not a fragrance I immediately liked, but it's grown on me in the same way Penhaligon's Bluebell has. Both are what I'd refer to as "animalic", with the musky notes of labdanum and oakmoss being fairly pronounced in this dark, green Chypre blend, making it challenging to wear. However, it also has a warm and sweet, spicy gourmand charm to it. Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental comes to mind, except Moss Breches is a Chypre, along the lines of Sisley Eau du Soir and Paloma Picasso, just greener, with more damp earth-and-wet leaves - the deep foresty scent attributed to oakmoss. Shiseido Koto (1985), for those of you familiar with this hard-to-find fragrance, is probably closest to it in overall scent. Another comparison might be the discontinued Deneuve (1986), with Moss Breches being drier, dirtier, heavier and sharper. This is a strange, complex scent for those unfamiliar with the scent of Chypre, a classical perfume accord brimming with tradition and an antiquated past.

Moss Breches.

Moss Breches, of course, would not be without mossiness. Oakmoss and tree moss are controlled ingredients in the perfume industry since it was declared by IFRA that these age-old ingredients turn into formaldehyde upon skin contact. Today, most of what we call moss is synthesized, but many vintage perfumes and even certain upscale perfumes do in fact contain moss. The scent, to my nose, is like that of damp autumn leaves, a bit dirty in an outdoorsy way. Many perfumes from the 1960s and '1970s featured oakmoss, such as Chanel N°19, Estée Lauder Aliage and Ô de Lancome. Actually, the use of oakmoss has been around since the birth of the Chypre fragrance family, long before the legendary Coty Chypre and Guerlain Mitsouko were born Chypre is named as such because the accord was born in Cyprus during Greco-Roman rule (Read more about Cyprus here: Cyprus the Divided Country).

Another featured note in Moss Breches is labdanum. Labdanum is a resin traditionally used in Chypre compositions. It's a black resin taken from goat hair after the goats had grazed on the rock rose shrub and resins collected on their fleece. Although I'm skeptical that most Chypre fragrances today contain real labdanum taken from goat hair, the scent has remained a staple in perfumery. It has a heavy, resinous and almost woody, as well as animalic, scent, and acts as a fixative for perfume compositions (base note), making perfumes last longer.

Although Moss Breches smells like a traditional Chypre, I'm guessing the reason I like it so much is because it has a soft, almost vanillic aspect to it as well. The sillage is absolutely gorgeous, a dazzling mossy green. When I wear Moss Breches, I'm reminded of Japanese tea ceremony and its dark, refined green tea (which is a bitter taste/scent (and yet I love it)). According to Chypre Perfumes blog: "The Japanese use labdanum in their Neriko mixtures, which are used during tea ceremony". I guess I'm not far off at all in my perception of the scent! On the same blog, the author writes that "Egyptians used it in their Kyphi mixtures and the Hebrews burned it in their temples". Perhaps Moss Breches is the kind of scent that can bring all kinds of deeply spiritual associations to people the world over.

Followers

facebook

Ancient Egyptian Pharaohs

Ancient Egyptian pharaohs used a stylised artificial labdanum-soaked goats-hair beard as one of the regalia of rulership: a clear case of associating a male attribute with leadership.

Kyphi

Labdanum has fascinated people for many centuries. Ancient Egyptians used it in their Kyphi incense mixtures and the Hebrews burned it in their temples. It's said to reach deep into our subconscious and bring back memories, feelings, and moods.

Labdanum SHOP

GENESIS 37 25

And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry [it] down to Egypt.

GENESIS 43 11

And their father Israel said unto them, If [it must be] so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: